Ancient Empires: Expansion and Empire Building Strategies

Introduction: Security as the Engine of Empire

Ancient kingdoms and their expansion strategies shared remarkable similarities throughout the ancient world. Persia, Rome, Athens, and Sparta all expanded their kingdoms through conquest, war, and consolidation. The enlargement of kingdoms served one primary purpose: security. As Thomas Hobbes notes, "If there is no power erected, or not great enough for our security, every man will and may lawfully rely on his own strength for caution against all other men" (99). Greece and all other major empires of the ancient world focused on just one thing — security — which they sought through either conquest or consolidation with weaker nations.

It is striking that the histories of all major empires, especially Sparta, Athens, and Persia, were deeply interconnected. Both rulers and the ruled generally believed that mightier forces had the right to rule. For this reason, weaker nations often found it beneficial to seek consolidation with stronger ones in order to obtain protection. This dynamic drove the expansion of empires, and virtually every empire in the ancient world incorporated this strategy into its plans. Those with superior military prowess were permitted to rule over smaller and militarily weaker nations, as Thucydides observed: "The ones who acquired naval strength were not least those who applied themselves to naval power, thanks to the income in money and the domination of others" (353).

Greek city-states provide an important example of empire expansion. Since there was no significant imperialist force in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek city-states prospered. Each had accepted the principle that mightier forces should prevail. Walls were erected around city-states, and weaker nations often allowed more powerful ones to reign over them for a variety of reasons. The stronger states utilized their power and military strength to keep weaker nations under strict control. This consolidation also allowed powerful city-states to protect themselves from potential Persian attacks. However, it was the Persian Wars that exposed the weakness of the Greek city-states and made the need for consolidation under a single power urgent. Persian threats, along with Sparta's refusal to offer assistance, were what ultimately drove the Greeks to consolidate their empire (Kagan 31).

The Persian Empire and Greek Fragmentation

Persia was by far the most organized and most powerful empire of the ancient world. Persian history dates back to 6000 B.C., making Iran one of the oldest civilizations. Empire building was always a priority, and from 612 to 330 B.C. the Persian Empire dominated Mesopotamia. The Achaemenid rulers created an empire that encompassed present-day Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, sections of Asia Minor, and India. Persepolis served as the capital of the Persian Empire and was founded by King Darius (522–486 B.C.). This capital was later destroyed by the forces of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.

While Persia was an organized and formidable force, Greece was a fragmented power. This fragmentation was what prompted King Darius to invade Greece. Most Greek city-states submitted to Persia, with the exception of Sparta and Athens. King Darius decided to launch a full-scale military offensive against these holdout states in 490 B.C.

Athens Rises: Defeat of Persia and the Delian League

The Spartans, either out of fear or some other reason, did not lend support to Athens when Persia invaded. Nevertheless, Athens managed to defeat the powerful Persian armies on its own. This enraged Persian rulers, and in the 470s B.C. Xerxes, son of King Darius, set sail again — this time with a far larger and more powerful army. The Athenians, however, defeated the Persian fleet of 1,200 vessels with only 400 of their own ships, inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Persian Empire.

This triumph brought immense prestige to Athens among the Greek city-states, and many states offered to join Athens in solidarity. Another major reason for this growing alignment was the unpopular government of Pausanias in Sparta, who "had begun to reveal the true arrogance of his nature... and appeared to be trying to set himself up as dictator" (Thucydides I.95). Thucydides adds that it was largely because of this that most city-states "had gone over to the side of the Athenians."

Athens then had the power and support to assume leadership of the Delian League — a confederation of Greek city-states formed to protect member states from foreign aggression and to "compensate themselves for their losses by ravaging the territory of the king of Persia." Sparta had previously led the alliance but willingly stepped aside, as Thucydides explains: "they were afraid any other commanders they sent abroad would be corrupted, as Pausanias had been, and they were glad to be relieved of the burden of fighting the Persians.... Besides, at the time they still thought of the Athenians as friendly allies." Sparta was also reluctant to commit its armies abroad because it wished to use them to prevent and suppress internal revolts.

The Delian League was not, strictly speaking, an empire, since there was no single organized structure holding its various city-states together. Each state remained nominally independent, and the large number of member states made unified rule difficult. These members, according to Thucydides, included "Chios, Lesbos, Plataea... most of Acarnania... Ionia, the Hellespont, Thrace and the islands between the Peloponnese and Crete towards the East, and all the Cyclades except for Melos and Thera" (Thucydides II.9), along with other states.

The League was nonetheless a formidable force. It weakened the Persian Empire by capturing the Persian fortress of Eion on the Thracian coast in 476 B.C. Further operations were undertaken to resist Persian incursions, which eventually resulted in reduced Persian dominance in the north. Under Athenian general Cimon, the League attacked the Persian fleet in 468 B.C. on the river Eurymedon in southern Turkey. This was closely followed by the liberation of the southern Aegean and Caria from Persian control, also achieved by Cimon.

Conclusion: Athens as the Model of Ancient Empire Building

Athens is thus the clearest example of empire building in the ancient world. Beginning from a fragmented landscape of independent city-states united only by a shared need for security, Athens leveraged military victory over Persia, the institutional framework of the Delian League, and increasingly coercive power to create the ancient world's first fully realized imperialist state. It was the emergence of Athenian imperialism in Greece that ultimately led to the decline and demise of Persian power.

Works Cited

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War.

Herodotus. Translations of the Histories. Trans. A. de Selincourt.

Hobbes, Thomas. "Of Commonwealth." Leviathan. Ed. Nelle Fuller. New York: Everyman's Library, 1973.

Kagan, Donald. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. New York: Cornell, 1994.